I became a writer for one reason. So someone would hear me. My life is filled with people who are so busy with their own 'stuff' that they don't hear me.

We all do it. 'Hey how ya doing?''Fine. Gotta run.''Good to see ya.'

'Fine' has become a euphemism for 'I'm too busy to talk, or I just don't want to tell you what's really going on.' It's a cover up. It's a cop-out; a means of not having to deal with our own feelings, or the feelings of others.

If you say to someone, 'I really need you to just stop for a minute and hear me,' then you are labeled as rude, and everything from that point forward becomes your fault. Blame gets laid, ears and minds close, and we stop listening... if we were ever listening in the first place.

Many people will never let you finish your sentence. I have family that will do that. I get two words out and they jump in, cut me off, and begin to argue what they think I am going to say, or what they think I might mean - all without ever letting me actually get it out. They are arguing based on assumptions.

We all need to slow down. Respect each other's feelings and opinions, even when we disagree with them. A difference of opinion does not make people bad, or you right and them wrong. We do not always live in a black and white society. There is a lot of grey out there. We can both be right, but about difrerent sides of the story. There isn't always one right.

When Jesus came, the religious elite of the day thought they were right, and based on the letter of the law they were following, many of them were. But their hearts weren't in it. They had no passion. Things had become just following the motions for them, but life had lost its meaning.

Enter Jesus of Nazareth... passion incarnate. He came to give new life. Some listened to him, and some did not. They cut him off, or made judgments without allowing him to speak. And theirs was the loss for it.

Open your ears, to hear the messages of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and each other. Jesus said, 'for when you did these things (fed the hungry, clothed the cold, visited the prisons) for the least of my brethren, you did so for me." Find out what people need.